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Best overall lenght for a distance rod ?

A hard question, what length would be a good all around casting rod be? This is for surf fishing only and I don't get a lot of access so spending big bucks doesn't make much sense, looking for a few tips on what will work best with my "new" Daiwa SL 250H which will have a mag in it. Any hints or tips appreciated.

It's fairly easy to trim a few inches off the butt to shorten a rod, so I would start at 13' and see how that works for you.

A more primary concern over total length is reel seat position-- if you find a store rod that works for you fine-- one reason to go custom is to get the real seat placed properly for your arm length, casting ability, etc.

the placement of the reel set makes a very big difference.if you are very tall, then the placement should be enough for you to get good leverage. a good way to look at it is if you hold the reel seat in your hand, stretch out your arm. if the but hits your armpit, then you will have a good spacing for you to get leverage, then you will be able to get distance.for a tall person, if measure from the butt to the middle of the reel seat, then 32" is about the right length. a short [24: or less] and you will not get the leverage you need. check it out. also, if buying a store rod, make sure it has at least 5 guides. the tip is not to be counted as a guide. this is to insure you get a decent stress distribution along the rod , if you have a good sized fish on.

the placement of the reel set makes a very big difference.if you are very tall, then the placement should be enough for you to get good leverage. a good way to look at it is if you hold the reel seat in your hand, stretch out your arm. if the but hits your armpit, then you will have a good spacing for you to get leverage, then you will be able to get distance.for a tall person, if measure from the butt to the middle of the reel seat, then 32" is about the right length. a short [24: or less] and you will not get the leverage you need. check it out. also, if buying a store rod, make sure it has at least 5 guides. the tip is not to be counted as a guide. this is to insure you get a decent stress distribution along the rod , if you have a good sized fish on.

I know you are quoting a genralized statement that rod builders use-- but keep in mind for long surf rods the stripper guide may be placed 5' or more away from the butt cap, giving you a long handle, for a 13' rod, using a conventional reel, somewhere between 6 and 8 guides is the norm. A real stiff rod can get by with 6, a more limber rod may need up to 8.

I know you are quoting a genralized statement that rod builders use-- but keep in mind for long surf rods the stripper guide may be placed 5' or more away from the butt cap, giving you a long handle, for a 13' rod, using a conventional reel, somewhere between 6 and 8 guides is the norm. A real stiff rod can get by with 6, a more limber rod may need up to 8.

I have a couple Yeah, it's a general term thrown out, but I'm following it on my surf rods and really like the results. I'm following the principals of the revolver rod on a surf rod. So I use a bunch of small guides instead of fewer, but larger guides. The first 3 guides decrease in size to reach a 6 on the 4th and 6s all the way out. My distance has increased a ton using a rod with this setup, but I'm also doing a lot of the stuff posted here so I can't pin point the gains to one thing in particular. I would love to see how one of you super casters do with a rod like this vs. more traditional rods. I also high seat it, so not sure if the smaller guides would work with a low seat.

I have a couple Yeah, it's a general term thrown out, but I'm following it on my surf rods and really like the results. I'm following the principals of the revolver rod on a surf rod. So I use a bunch of small guides instead of fewer, but larger guides. The first 3 guides decrease in size to reach a 6 on the 4th and 6s all the way out. My distance has increased a ton using a rod with this setup, but I'm also doing a lot of the stuff posted here so I can't pin point the gains to one thing in particular. I would love to see how one of you super casters do with a rod like this vs. more traditional rods. I also high seat it, so not sure if the smaller guides would work with a low seat.

Sounds interesting enough, and I do use that philosophy (more but smaller guides) on spinning rods tossing lighter weights.

What size guide do you start with-- in low reel it is necessary to have at least a 30 as the stripper guide-- you need to have the line up away from the blank to allow your upper hand clearance between the rod and the blank without contacting line with your upper hand.

I have one tourny rod that has size 10's as the smallest guides, but I generally prefer size 12 --- the guide feet allow enough thread wrap to secure the guide, so that it is not ripped off the blank when putting a large bend in the rod during the power stroke. Keep in mind lots of tourny guys tape their guides in place-- just not enough length to a size 6 guide foot to be secure when taping.

Unless the blank has a phenomenol recovery rate-- I would be concerned about excess friction from a lot of guides as the tip bounces several times during recovery -- the more guides, the more friction the free-flowing line encounters-- increasing the chance of a blow up on a super fast reel.

I asked a few questions on the rodbuilding.org site whan I first got into building surf rods.

One question pertained to the "one guide per foot rule" you always encounter.

One answer I got back was (for a 13' rod)-- if your stripper guide is set 5' up from the butt cap-- you really have 8' from the stripper guide to the tip left to cover with guides-- so using 8 guides does in fact follow the general rule.

You can get by with 6 on stiff rods-- because the rule is general in nature and was developed for lighter casting rods-- it wasn't developed with long, heavy, surf or tourny rods in mind.

I use a 16 or 20 for the stripper guide. then decrease by 2 till I get the 6s. So the guides are 16, 14, 12, 6x10 or 18,16,14, 6x10. The stripper guide is 18-26 inches from the reel seat and I'm using most all of the blank.

This style is closest to the micro guide strategy I saw at the rod building expo. Rich Forham of revolver rod fame said he would also use these on revolver rods, but he hasn't because his eyesight is going. Since a size 2 won't work on a surf rod, I've been using 6s which is the smallest I think is safe with them. The theory of micro guides is line wobble deters casting distance more than friction or anything else since it's wasted energy. micro guides greatly reduce line wobble by being physically closer to each other and having smaller eyes which allows less bounce. So the line pulls off in a much more efficient manner.

I'm new to the distance casting thing and just this year broke into the 200 yard range casting. I've been working on my technique and am using rods built like described above. So I can't say if the rod is making me throw further, but it's not preventing me from improving my distance. I would love to see how you, Tommy or one of the other pro casters do with one of these. Would help me clear up how much of my improvement is from the rod and how much from technique. Either way though, they fish great I feel like I have a lot more control with the rod.

Guides

I build surf spiral rods and do not ascribe to the 'one guide per foot' rule, I usually go for 'one half guide per foot plus one' and start tweaking from there using static placement.

On a surf spiral, place the guides as usual for a conventional then turn the transition guides around. That is for a 'slow' spiral. On a boat rod, place the guides to conform with the 'first 180 prior to the flex point', then use a 'slow' spiral or bumper, as necessary to make a smooth transition to the running guides.

Some' of my personal observations; not 'rules', gained through experience, is that the first 180 degree guide should be before the flex point and don't be afraid to place that butt guide way out here. I usually go for 36 inches from the reel stem, with a long; up to 30+ inches for the handle length, which varies with the prospective user.

As the poster aptly says: 'There aren't any rules'.

To answer the original question': I don't believe there is one answer. Different strokes for different folks. I like 12-13 feet. JMHO C2

Long range surf casting I prefer rods at 13' 8" with 7-8 guides and low reel and close in backwash - 75yds it's rods between 8' to 12'9",
Tourney work with sinkers (100-175g) I prefer a 13'9" with a 9" reducer and 8 guides.
On the tourney plug side - it's 13'2" high reel and 8 guides, Tourney Fly single handed (T38) 9'2" with 9 guides, double handed (T120) 17'2" with 12 guides.